Por las Palabras
2025 · 3m · España
Directed by Miguel Cintas
Genres: drama, surrealism
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
Pursued by the regime and facing an irremediable end, two poets share their final words at the dining table. As the young José questions the meaning of poetry and the value of every written verse, Fernando reminds him why they chose to stay rather than flee — an oneiric portrait of poetry's worth in the face of fear, where language becomes the last refuge.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone's going to call this a solemn meditation on art under tyranny, which is fair, but what actually interests me is how Cintas refuses the expected catharsis — there's no transcendence here, just two men at a table insisting on their own irrelevance, which is weirdly radical.
A formally precise study in negative space and restraint: the surrealism never overwhelms the mise-en-scène, the dialogue operates like verse itself, and Cintas positions this squarely in a lineage of political cinema that trusts silence over statement.
The entire film hinges on one choice — keeping the camera almost motionless at that table — which forces every micro-gesture and vocal inflection from the performers to carry weight, turning constraint into the film's singular emotional engine.